terrine machine

During my most recent absence, instead of fasting like he normally does when he has no one to cook for, my boyfriend decided he would make and eat casseroles made in our terrine dish (the idea being a casserole is relatively easy to make and would last him a few days each time). You would think he would be sick of them by now, but apparently once you start you can't stop. Actually, the best thing about the terrine dish is that it is quite small, so we can make a casserole without having to commit to eating said casserole for days on end. So I guess the good thing is that we are getting a lot of use out of our terrine dish, despite the fact that we have yet to make an actual "terrine". (And I'm not sure we ever will  - a lot of the pictures of real terrines I've seen suggest a sketchy jello/gelatin component that I am not okay with...)

Seared pork chop served on creamy leeks with a potato, sweet potato, spinach, carrot, garlic and gorgonzola casserole

you say terrine, I say casserole dish

Almost two months ago we won a terrine from a foodie blogroll giveaway. Although we have yet to use it for  a meatloaf intended to be served at room temperature (a dish that is so designed for this cooking vessel that they shares the same name) or pate, we have found that it is wonderful for casseroles. (And we did use it for a normal meatloaf very successfully). So what exactly is the difference between a terrine and a casserole dish? To me it seems to be the shape, but maybe I am missing the subtle complexities of the baking dish that is the terrine?

Casserole with sliced ham, potato, spinach and brussel sprouts topped with brie

what?? a sandwich without cheese??

Yes, we had sandwiches for dinner tonight, and yes, we did not put in any cheese. I know what you are thinking - who has taken over My Boyfriend Cooks for Me??? But honestly, the balsamic mayonnaise is so rich and creamy I didn't even miss cheese. And of course, following my latest food obsession, we included brussel sprouts. Yes, brussel sprouts are a condiment now, you heard it here first.

Pita pocket with chicken, garlic, tomato, red onion, sauteed brussel sprouts, capers and balsamic vinegar mayonnaise

Served over spinach sauteed with garlic

brussel sprouts: the love continues

I don't know what has gotten into me - I can't get enough of brussel sprouts! Besides fried, which is really not a reasonable cooking method for a regular basis, I think that my favorite preparation involves a fine julienne cut like in our pasta dish last week and tonight. I find that texture incredibly satisfying and almost crave-able...but then I would be a crazy person who craves brussel sprouts...

Chicken strips sauteed with garlic, brussel sprouts and capers, then lightly drizzled with a balsamic vinegar mayonnaise

omelette or omelet? (...or frittata?)

Omelette/frittata with diced salami, cremini mushrooms, red onion and gouda cheese

Served with toasted and buttered Tuscan round

red curry cod

Cod fillet with garlic, red onion and carrots in a thai red curry sauce

Served over white rice

I love brussel sprouts and moldy salami

Tonight's dinner could not have been more of a success, and I'm not just saying that because it was my vision and turned out as great as I imagined.

First, we finally conquered our pasta machine. Normally when we decide to make our own pasta, by the time we sit down to eat it we are on the verge of hating each other because things don't go smoothly, and I don't handle that very well (which is probably one reason I shy away from being in charge in the kitchen). But today was different - the dough co-operated, didn't stick to itself, and rolled smoothly and easily through the cutter...these noodles were beautiful, if I do say so myself. We even managed to figure out the perfect way to roll out pasta sheets without requiring 14 extra hands.

All of this good rolling and cutting was entirely due to getting the dough right. I am the one who makes the pasta dough, and I really like (and need!) to follow directions when I'm in the kitchen (let's call this the second reason I am not a very good cook). So when it says 2/3 cups of water, I add 2/3 cups of water. Of course the recipe then goes on to say "if the dough is too wet..." and "if the dough is too dry...", but naturally there is no explanation of how I would know if the dough is too wet or too dry! HOW WET IS TOO WET???? HOW DRY IS TOO DRY??? But today I took a chance and didn't add in all the water. The result was the soft, moist, but not sticky dough that was a pleasure to work with. (Okay, so we made ONE LITTLE MISTAKE of putting the cut noodles in a bowl while we prepared the rest of the ingredients, and that's when they kind of lumped together, but whatever, the pasta was salvaged and tasted great so I don't even consider that a fail on any level - I'm clearly still high off the "good pasta rolling and cutting" experience).

The second victory in tonight's meal was the combination of ingredients that accompanied the pasta.

Some specific points on the two star ingredients, brussel sprouts and salami:

1) shredding the brussel sprouts (really just a julienne cut) was as good as I imagined it would be. In fact, if the pasta could have used anything it was more brussel sprouts

2) the salami we used was one that had an edible "natural mold" on the outside, similar to the rind on brie (it actually kind of smelled like brie, which was a bit confusing). I am a huge fan of strong, earthy flavors, and this added something so wonderful to the salami that it's amazing we had any left to use in the pasta.

There. I said it. I love brussel sprouts and moldy salami.

Home-made fettuccine with sauteed brussel sprouts, salami, garlic, and red onion with a gruyere and parmesean cream sauce

one last hurrah...i hope

Ham hocks and beans is a pretty classic combination. Although spring is in the air here, today was on the colder side, so we decided to take advantage and make one of our winter favorites, chili, but with ham hocks instead of ground meat. This turned out wonderfully. The flavor of the meat was perfect, and cooking it with the other ingredients for so long left it incredibly melt-in-your-mouth tender.

Chili with ham hocks, black beans, kidney beans, corn, tomatoes, garlic and onion topped with a blend of Mexican cheeses and sour cream.

happy daylight savings

Fluffy buttermilk pancakes & crispy bacon

i like brussel sprouts!

Brussel sprouts have to be the most cliche food to dislike, but I promise you my dislike was real. My boyfriend made them once or twice in the fall, and I still wasn't crazy about them. But a few weeks ago I tried deep fried brussel sprouts, and it totally changed my life - I actually kept going back for more! With the fried brussel sprouts in mind, I was the one who suggested buying some today. We didn't fry them, but eating them that way once must have triggered something in my brain about the flavor of brussel sprouts, because I loved them tonight, too! I'm really excited to try grating or shredding brussel sprouts - I have seen that on a number of food blogs recently, and think that maybe this possibility was at the back of my mind when I wanted to buy them today. Stay tuned...

Slow-cooked pork roast

Cremini mushroom and gruyere sauce

Parsnip puree

Sauteed brussel spouts (marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and I'm sure garlic was involved at some point somewhere....)

what we do with the other half of the chicken

It's become pretty standard that if we get a whole chicken from our CSA and use the breasts one night, we are either making fried rice or pulled chicken sandwiches with the thigh meat the next night...I am totally okay with this routine...

Panini with chicken, bacon, blend of Italian cheeses, tomato, basil and balsamic mayonnaise

Oven-baked fries with grated Parmesean

adding stuff to mayonnaise is always a good idea

Artichoke boiled with garlic and onion served with balsamic vinegar mayonnaise for dipping

Chicken breast with an Italian cheese cream sauce

Served with sauteed carrots and daikon radish

Garnished with fresh basil

sushi flavors - you can't go wrong

"Open-faced" sushi roll: nori, basil, white rice and daikon radish sauteed with garlic and ginger

Pan fried salmon with a breadcrumb and wasabi mayonnaise crust

just like mom's

Tonight's menu was taken directly from my childhood: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, broccoli.

Meatloaf: ground beef, ground pork sausage, egg, onion, garlic, roasted red peppers, jalapeno pepper, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, smoked paprika

Meatloaf Sauce: tomato paste, maple syrup, brown sugar and mustard

Mashed potatoes with blue cheese and sour cream

Steamed broccoli

mmmm....breakfast....

Scrambled eggs with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil

Served with toasted and buttered Tuscan round

breakfast "burger"

Pork sausage "burger" with an over-easy egg, cheddar cheese, brie and arugula on toasted Tuscan round

summary of date night and ham hocks (hmm...that doesn't sound right...)

Instead of waiting until next week, we had our "date-night" last night. We went for a fabulous dinner where my boyfriend had the amazing idea to order all the appetizers on the menu instead of each choosing an appetizer and entree. The appetizers all sounded much more interesting, and that is how I prefer to eat anyways - lots of different little things. When faced with only a couple of bites of something (that you have to share, no less!) you really have to take the time to eat slowly, savour every bite, and really think about what you are eating. I am a slow eater by nature, but my boyfriend really benefits from being forced to slow down. I'll spare you the details of all the appetizer courses, but have to mention the dessert, which was by far the most interesting and creative dessert I have ever had. It  involved chocolate and beets. I wish we had taken a picture - there were these little beet "pearls", made who knows how, that were just delightful...

ANYWAYS, you don't care about what we ate last night, you care about what we ate tonight. The moral of that whole story was that I think my boyfriend got re-inspired to really play in the kitchen...so much so that he made us each two plates. Maybe he was over-compensating after last night where he never got a plate of food all to himself?

In addition to dinner portions of meat from our CSA, we sometimes get random additions, such as bones for soup. A couple of weeks ago we got ham hocks. Thinking that there wouldn't be that much meat on the smaller of the two, we decided to use it to flavor some collard greens (which is one of the traditional uses). But in the end there was enough meat for us to actually eat, too. I was really surprised by the texture: it reminded me a lot of the dark meat of a smoked turkey, right down to the way the fat was attached...is that weird?

Plate 1: Roast beef with home-made barbecue sauce and a fried mashed potato and celery root cake topped with goat cheese (locally made and incredibly flavorful).














Plate 2: Collard greens, another fried mashed potato and celery root cake, and pieces of ham hock

To use the ham hock as a flavorer (?), the ham hock was boiled in chicken stock with garlic and onion for about 20 minutes, then we cooked the collards in that stock.

craving satisfier

I am in a bit of a crazy, PMS-y (too much information?), I-just-want-to-think-about-food  kind of place. There are only two solutions to this problem: 1) go out for a fancy dinner, or 2) eat something wildly and deeply satisfying. Tonight we went with the second option (although we do have plans for a date-night next week involving fancy dinner and then watching the movie, The Big Night, which we have been told is THE food movie).

Pulled chicken sub with sauteed onions, garlic and salami, melted cheddar cheese and tomato slices

Served with crispy shoe string potatoes (and a side of mayo for dipping)